Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/834

 8i8 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

Today the place is shut up. Morris is dead; Bernard Shaw, they tell me, has become positively respectable; Burns may at any moment become a cabinet minister; 1 and, in short, the game is played out, so far as superficial appearances show. There is practically no socialist propaganda in London today, I am told; and as for the Clarion, the weekly socialist paper, it seems to be a success, but it is a pallid thing compared with our little Com- monweal, which I used to sell for a penny at street corners and political meetings. Well, it could not have been otherwise. A rose does not bloom forever, and he who would sow seed must be content to lose sight of it for a while.

What, then, is the most vital, aggressive movement in this present-day England? It is, I think, this same socialism, only under a different form. The old idea of changing everything by means of a sudden revolution was finally given up, even by Mor- ris himself; and while there may yet come revolts and blood- shed, it is wonderful to see the progress that has been made, and is likely to be made, quietly, rationally, and, as it seems to me, with astonishingly little friction.

Having freely confessed my leanings in this matter, I am glad to be able to support my statements from the other side. The Times, in the latter part of 1902, published a series of articles by an anonymous writer, and republished them as a pamphlet, with the title Municipal Socialism. This pamphlet ("6d. a copy, $os. a hundred, 12. los. a thousand") is intended to be spread broadcast, as an awful warning. It is to be recom- mended especially to Americans, who have a point of view just sufficiently different to enable them to enjoy the joke. It appears that the dreadful socialists have even begun to convert the children, and at Glasgow there is a Socialist Sunday School Union, which brings out a halfpenny monthly magazine, called the Young Socialist.

The Times writer, after stating that the socialists plan to capture the various administrative bodies of the country, goes on to say :

1 This prophecy, lately fulfilled, was penned before the downfall of the Balfour cabinet. ED.